Read Alouds You Just Have to Try!

As I mentioned at the beginning of Lent, we were going to avoid watching videos in the evenings and shift to reading aloud to the kids some great literature. Now, we're not talking the Great Books or even the Junior Great Books; we're talking about books that keep you interested (whether you're 4 or 44), that have a great plot and memorable characters, that keep you wanting to continue reading after the minimum chapter-a-night -- yep, THOSE kind of books.

This reading in the evening was a big hit! On the nights that were a bit chilly (we even had SNOW on EASTER!), we'd all head up to the "Master Bedroom" and cuddle and dad would read, mom would knit (what else would I do?), and the kids would snuggle or color while listening to the story. Other nights, we'd finish up the dishes, stake out spots in the living room, and commence the memory-making!

Here are the books we were able to read during the 40 nights of Lent:

• Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
• Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong
• Canadian Summer by Hilda vanStockum

And these are books we've read-aloud during the 40 days:

• Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
• Lost Island by Eilis Dillon
• The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (illustrated by Roberto Innocenti)

We were reading just to the "littles" (age range 4-8) but the BIG teens did listen in occasionally. My dh read the night books and I read the day books. All six of these books were well-received and now we have marvelous family memories of these characters and all that happen to them!